A campaign to unite people in the fight against dementia and get rid of its stigma has been launched.

The drive by the Alzheimer’s Society has been backed by a host of celebrities, a number of whose family members have been struck down by the disease, including football pundit Robbie Savage and Uriah Rennie, who once sent off Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer.

Every three minutes someone develops dementia - a degenerative brain disease that slowly erodes memory and thinking skills - but the Alzheimer’s Society says people often face up to it alone.

And new figures released by the charity from an Ipsos MORI survey revealed the extent to which people in this region not only fear dementia, but stigmatise those living with it.

Uriah Rennie and Robbie Savage

A shocking 58% of North East adults aged between 16 and 75 agree that if they had dementia they would feel their life was over.

Meanwhile, 24% surveyed would feel uncomfortable talking to someone with dementia on the phone, and 21% would feel uncomfortable talking face-to-face.

George Short, of Chapel House, Newcastle, was diagnosed with dementia in 2015 and knows only too well about the stigma associated with the condition.

The former electrical wholesaler and Royal Northumberland Fusilier says he often feels “invisible” when people stop to chat to him and wife Marian.

George, 82, a one-time prolific darts player with a string of trophies, gave up his beloved sport when he began having difficulty keeping score.

He said: “I don’t think people mean to be rude – I just think they get embarrassed, so they direct questions in Marian instead of me.

George Short

“Sometimes I can communicate quite well, but then it’s as if a curtain comes down in my mind and I just can’t get to the end of a sentence. It’s incredibly frustrating.”

Marian, also 82, said: “There is definitely a stigma associated with dementia that needs to change.

“Sometimes George gets so depressed when he can’t find the words to express his feelings that he just puts his head in his hands, but he’s still the same person. He’s still George.”

Ex-footballer Savage lost his dad, Colin, to younger onset dementia – which affects more than 40,000 people in the UK under 65 - when he was only 64, after being diagnosed at 58.

He said: “People think dementia is an old person’s condition but it isn’t. My dad was struck down in his prime.

Alan Shearer celebrates after scoring the opening goal as Newcastle United beat Spurs 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, April 11, 1999 (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

“It was so painful to witness my hero and best friend gradually slip away.”

Rennie, infamous on Tyneside for having given Alan Shearer his first and only standing red card for Newcastle versus Aston Villa in 1999, has also backed the campaign.

Shearer was also red carded in 2001 in a Newcastle game against Charlton but it was overturned on appeal.

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Hazel Cuthbertson, regional operations manager for Alzheimer’s Society in the North East, said: “Alzheimer’s Society hears day in, day out about how people with dementia and their carers feel isolated and excluded.

“Their experiences highlight how we still have a long way to go before we can truly call ourselves a dementia-friendly society.

“There are an estimated 35,0000 people living with dementia in the North East.”

As part of the campaign, a TV ad voiced by actor Bill Nighy will be aired on Monday night at 8.55pm.

The ad, directed by Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Daniel Barber, plays upon issues that can cause divisions in society including age, gender identity and whether people voted in or out in the recent EU referendum.